Airport delays increasing

That’s true, according to government statistics. Department of Transportation show that the percentage of delayed arrivals and departures is rising in sync with the increasing number of flights at the airport.

In June, for example, roughly 31 percent of flights arriving at Dayton International were delayed, compared with 21 percent in May. In July, 30 percent of flights arriving at the airport were delayed.

The increase in delayed arrivals coincides with a rise in arriving flights, which have grown from 990 in January to 1,150 in July.

The same pattern is apparent with departing flights. The percentage of delayed departures rose from 15.5 percent in May to 23.8 percent in June and 24.5 percent in July.

Figures for August are not available yet. It will be interesting to see if this trend will have continued.

Blackout averted again?

On Thursday, one day after it announced it took extraordinary measures Tuesday to avoid an uncontrolled blackout in Ohio and elsewhere, PJM Interconnection again sought to reassure residents that it was meeting the high demand for electricity brough on by last week’s 90 degree temperatures.

The company cited consumers’ voluntary reduction in power use on Wednesday as playing a “vital role in keeping the power grid stable and air conditioners running.”

PJM said the soaring temperatures last week pushed electricity use to record levels for the month. Demand for electricity Tuesday and Wednesday was higher than any day this summer except July 18, PJM said.

On Wednesday, customers agreed to reduce their electricy use in exchange for payment, PJM said. The total amount of electricity saved reached nearly 6,000 megawatts. That’s the equivalent of five nuclear plants or generators, PJM said.

The peak demand for electricity on Wednesday was 142,071 megawatts. By comparison, the peak demand for this summer on July 18 was 157,509 megawatts. Last year, the highest demand for electricity in September was 129,959 megawatts.

PJM Interconnection serves 61 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.